Post navigation

I went to go see Iron Maiden and Alice Cooper last night at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield…..it’s been a long time since I caught a live show (almost 4 months!) so it was great to catch these two Heavy Metal icons at one show. Iron Maiden was the headliner and they always draw a good crowd at this outdoor arena and the seats were all packed under the roof and on the lawn for an announced 14,000 fans! Not a bad way to start the summer: Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper and 14,000 Metal friends!

I’ve caught Alice Cooper live many times in the last 10 years and he never disappoints. Alice and the band always puts on a top notch show both musically and theatrically so it’s no doubt that Alice could have done a full set with full production and had the crowd eating out of his evil hand. Unfortunately, Alice was an opening act and he had to play an abbreviated set…..but what a show! After the intro tape of Vincent Price introducing ‘The Black Widow’, Alice and the band played an 11 song set with a scaled down, but still high quality, production. An Alice Cooper concert is always about the theatrics then the music but a shorter set puts the focus on the songs. The bulk of the setlist are Alice Cooper staples but it was very cool to hear a couple of songs make it back into the set. The entire set was awesome but the highlights for me were the return of ‘Brutal Planet’, ‘Wicked Young Man’ and ‘Hey Stoopid’ back to the setlist. The last time I caught Alice live with Rob Zombie, he played a full set as a co-headliner but these three songs weren’t played. Actually, ‘Wicked Young Man’ was done but in a medley. Both albums (2000’s BRUTAL PLANET and 1991’s HEY STOOPID) are really great and totally underrated albums because Alice has so many classic records and songs. For an older performer, Alice didn’t disappoint, he had tons of energy for the performance and he sounds as good as he did when I saw him on the BRUTAL PLANET tour 12 years ago. The band was tight and sounded great, you could tell that half a set was just a warm up and they could have kept it up for another hour easily. Alice Cooper is a true Rock legend and he proved it live once again!

Iron Maiden setlist:

Intro song (‘Doctor, Doctor’ by UFO)

Moonchild
Can I Play With Madness
The Prisoner
2 Minutes To Midnight
Afraid To Shoot Strangers
The Trooper
The Number Of The Beast
The Phantom Of The Opera
Run To The Hills
Wasted Years
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
The Clairvoyant
Fear Of The Dark
Iron Maiden

EncoreChurchill’s Speech into
Aces High
The Evil That Men Do
Running Free

It’s been 4 years since I’ve seen Iron Maiden in concert, the last time I saw them was at the Tweeter Center in the summer of 2008 and they were playing a greatest hits set billed as “Somewhere On Tour 2008″. That was one of the best times I’ve seen Iron Maiden live but do they ever put on a bad show? This time around, the band was focusing on songs from the SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON (1988) album and they played a solid 5 songs from it including ‘Moonchild’, ‘Can I Play With Madness’, ‘Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son’, ‘The Clairvoyant’ and ‘The Evil That Men Do’. The show production was centered around the SEVENTH SON album as well with plenty of different Eddie’s popping up and a solid stage show but, as always, the concert comes down to one thing…..the band.

Iron Maiden doesn’t disappoint…..ever! This concert was another superb performance by the band, who I consider the #1 Metal band in the world, with solid musicianship and excellent vocals. Maiden just came out and played…..not a lot of talking in between songs, not a lot of rehearsed intros like some bands I love, just flat out Metal songs one after the other. The setlist was solid, not a bad song in the bunch and, as I mentioned, the SEVENTH SON songs were the focus. When I saw Maiden in 2008, they played ‘Moonchild’, ‘Can I Play With Madness’ and ‘The Clairvoyant’ but they aren’t always in the set so it was good to hear them again but hearing ‘Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son’ and ‘The Evil That Men Do’ was simply awesome. Good to also hear ‘The Prisoner’ and ‘Phantom Of The Opera’ make the set instead of more popular songs from PIECE OF MIND (1983) and the debut record and it’s always cool to hear another song from FEAR OF THE DARK (1993) with ‘Afriad To Shoot Strangers’. As always, my favorite song of the night was ‘Fear Of The Dark’, it just sends chills up my spine everytime I hear it! Just a couple of words on the band themselves…..as I mentioned, the band played and sounded great which is no surprise but, aside from Bruce Dickinson, they weren’t as animated as they have been in the past. Maybe it’s because this was like the 2nd or 3rd show of the U.S. tour or maybe it was because they were focusing on the playing but it seemed like they didn’t move around a ton as they have in the past. Not complaining at all…..I’d prefer a flawless performance to an action packed show anytime! Solid performance, great show, I wish the band was coming back again soon.

I was there too (in the lawn). Great set list. Great stage show. The band looked pretty energetic. But the sound was really bad (in the lawn at least). I thought the first two songs were a bit of a disaster (the band probably couldn’t hear too well and were WAY out of sync). As the show went on, the mix was better and the band was tight, but the audio on the vocals was just terrible. Couldn’t make out most of what B.D. was singing. I sound guy really dropped the ball. Alice Cooper, on the other hand, sounded clear as a bell!

Heavy Metal Addiction Media Requests & Contact Information

If you are a band, label or publicist that would like to have albums reviewed, news posted or interviews scheduled.....or you just want to get in touch with Heavy Metal Addiction.....please use the email and mailing address below.

The Order of Things ~ All That Remains (42)Release Date: February 24, 2015 Buy new: $9.99 34 used & new from $6.18(Visit the Hot New Releases in Hard Rock & Metal list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Spookshow International Live (Explicit) ~ Rob Zombie (6)Release Date: February 24, 2015 Buy new: $11.88 37 used & new from $9.15(Visit the Hot New Releases in Hard Rock & Metal list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)